The College News
VOL. XX, No. 14
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1934
Copyright BKTN MAWR .
COLI.K'iK NEWS. 1931
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PRICE 10 CENTS
Shane Leslie Speaks
on Authentic Swift
Disguised Handwriting Proven
False by Recently Found
Manuscripts
SWIFTIANA RE - EDITED
Shane Leslie, speaking in Goodhart
Wednesday evening", February 14,
on the subject of recent studies in
Swiftiana, gave his attention more
particularly to a textual criticism of
the pieces in the Swift anthology
"written in Swift's well-known dis-
guised hand."
Because of this fiction concerning
Swift's handwriting the famous Dean
is one of the worst-edited authors
in English literature. He signed his
letters, but never his poems. To
start from, then, the editor has only
half of Gulliver's Travels and half
of the Journal to Stella, definitely in
his hand, and available in the Brit-
ish Museum. The other half of the
latter, a composite of gossip, politics
and "gossamer love making," is pos-
sibly in some small cottage bureau.
The main task for the editor of
Swift is the comprehension of his
handwriting, and then the correct at-
tribution of the poems in the Swift
anthology, frequently in the hand-
writing of Swift's contemporaries.
The Swiftian manuscripts have had
a remarkably romantic history.
When Swift died in 1745, all of his
books were sold: the six-volume
Faulkner edition of 1735 was sold to
Lord Synge, it was lost, and reap-
peared only to be sold and lost again
until Mr. Leslie recently discovered
it. The Chesterfield letters were also
eventually sold, and passed down
through the Shirley family; these,
too, were for some time lost to the
world. In all the catalogues of print-
ed books in the Shirley library there
was no mention of the manuscript.
Dr. Rosenbach, however, finally found
a reference to it, and sent Mr. Leslie
to find the manuscript. It was an
arduous task, because the more re-
cent generations of the Shirley fam-
ily had neglected the library, allow-
ing the books to get stuck together
like bricks, for the livelier pleasures
of kennels and horse-racing. Mr.
Leslie had no success whatever in his
search here; and it was a stroke first
of luck and then of genius that finally
procured the long-sought manuscript,
lie was suddenly informed of the
(Continued on Page Five)
Industrial Workers Tell
Views on Trade Unions
Twenty Bryn Mawr undergradu-
ates and fifteen industrial workers
discussed the effect of the NRA on
trade union organization at the meet-
ing of the Student-Industrial Group
supper-meeting last Wednesday, Feb-
ruary 14, under the leadership of Dr.
Fairchild. The group concluded that
although government, under the New
Deal, may help the workers some-
what, workers must still rely on their
own efforts to see that codes are en-
forced and working conditions im-
proved.
The experience of workers repre-
senting the silk-spinning, hosiery, and
paper-box industries showed that the
NRA has reduced hours and raised
the minimum wage. On the other
hand, however, the weekly wage has
in many cases been diminished, and
the pace of the work increased.
Two silk spinners told the story of
their successful strike to achieve
union recognition. Further requests
for a fairer distribution of the work
led to a seven weeks' lock-out on the
pretense that the company had no
orders to be filled, but when they re-
turned to work, they found the situ-
ation improved. A hosiery worker,
who was an active union organizer,
reported that a strike in which she
was involved failed, perhaps because
it attempted too much.
The next meeting is tentatively set
for February 28 in the Common
Room. The subject will be the func-
tions and aims of trade unions.
CALENDAR
Thurs., Feb. 22. Vienna
I
Choir Boys will give a concert.
Goodhart Hall, 8.20 P. M. Tick-
ets are on sale at the Publi-
cations Office.
Fri., Feb. 23. Class swim-
ming meet. Gym at 4.00 P. M.
Sat., Feb. 24. Varsity bas-
ketball vs. Drexel Institute�
first and second teams. Gymn.
at 10.00 A. M.
Sat., Feb. 24. F-re&Hman
Show. Goodhart Hall at 8.30
P. M. Tickets on sale at the
Publications Office.
Sun., Feb. 25. Mr. Edward
M. M. Warburg, of the Museum
of Modern Art, will speak on
The Artist in the World Today.
Deanery at 5.00 P. M. .
Sun., Feb. 25. Chapel. The
Rev. John W. Suter will speak.
Music Room at 7.30 P. M.
Mon., Feb. 26. Margaret
Ayer Barnes will meet all those
students interested in writing
in the Deanery at 4.30 P. M.
Tues., Feb. 27. Miss Rossa
B. Cooley, Principal of the Penn
Normal Industrial and Agricul-
tural School, Frogmore, South
Carolina, will speak in the
Deanery at 5.00 P. M. Tea at
4.30 P. M. Please notify Polly
Barnitz if attending tea.
Tues., Feb. 27. Mrs. Harold
Thurlow will speak on Oppor-
� tunities for Women in Indus-
trial Laboratories. Common
Room at 4.45 P. M. Tea at
4.15 P. M.
Oxford Press Serves
Scholarly Interests
Foundation of Fine Printing
Laid by Gifts of Junius
and Bishop Fell
BIBLES ARE FAMOUS
Miss Park Outlines Plans
For Addition to Library
At Chapel on Thursday morning,
Miss Park discussed plans for a new
Library wing and for a proposed
change in the present Library stair-
case. The 150,000 books in the library,
which grow in number yearly by ap-
proximately 10,000, make more li-
brary space imperative. The idea of
building the--wing' along the unfin-
ished back wall of the Cloisters wan
discarded, for it would make -the re-
moval of the windows in the pleasant
seminary rooms at the ends of the
present wings necessary. Two long
wings extending towards Rockefeller
Hall seemed a better plan. These
wings have been staked out. They do
not come unpleasantly close to Rocke-
feller and will, when completed, en-
close a very pleasant quadrangle.
The basement only of the wing will
be used for books, and will be ap-
proached by the present basement
passages. The building above will be
used by and specifically adapted to
the needs of the Departments of His-
tory of Art and of Archaeology. It
will contain offices for the members
of the faculty in these departments,
seminaries, class-rooms, a large room
where films can be shown, and, along
the back line, a permanent exhibition
room for all valuable pictures and
objects. The main part of the library
is not completely non-tfnflammable
and, consequently, some hesitation has
been shown in donating valuable ob-
jects of art for permanent exhibition
there.
When the Library was planned, it
was intended that the main reading
room should be a rectangle, unbroken
by the ugly and unnecessary projec-
tions formed by the stair-case and
the reserve rooms. This plan may
still be realized if the present stairs
are removed and new flights of stairs
built at both ends of the library, or
even a single flight, in the style of
English colleges, built facing towards
Pembroke Hall. The main porch
would remain and be utilized perhaps
to hold a seated figure of Miss Tho-
mas. The books from the reserve
rooms would be placed in book-cases
rising to the height of the windows
around the reading room. Miss Park
would like to have this alteration
made when the new wings are being
built, as it would be less expensive
then.
"The Oxford Press has always
been something more than a commer-
cial venture," said Dr. Herben, in-
troducing the exhibit of Oxford print-
ing in the Deanery on Monday after-
noon, February 19. "It .is and has
been a great institution for the serv-
ice of scholarship by the dissemina-
tion of good books." Oxford's claim
to be the home of the first English
printer is unfortunately as false as
the tradition maintained by Univer-
sity College that it was founded by
Alfred the Great; but the Oxford
Press, if not the second after Caxton's
at Westminster, was among the earli-
est in England. The colophon date on
the manuscript of Rufinus, On the
Creed has been shown by scholars to
be an error resulting from a typeset-
ter's omission of one Roman numeral,
ten: it is, therefore. 1478 instead of
1468, and not prior to Caxton.
The Oxford Press at first had no
more than a casual association with
the University, as in early days a
"scriptorium" was apt to be found
near any intellectual centre. The
first Press went out of existence in
I486, after nine years of publishing.
Established anew in 1507, it printed
for only fourteen months, at the end
of which it was suppressed by Wol-
sey. The present Oxford Press was
founded in 1585, from which time to
the present moment its tradition is
unbroken. -,
For the three hundred and forty-
eight years of its existence the Press
has the finest records of any publish-
ing house in the world: we know
every title published in those years
and for all of them, with few excep-
tions, copy is available. The first
title of the 1585 Press was, appropri-
ately enough, a Latin one, Moral
Questions About Aristotle's Ethics.
From 1585 to the turn of the century,
seventy or eighty books were put out
by the Press.
The vicissitudes of the Press have
been many, pleasant and unpleasant.
It has always been exceptionally for-
tunate in its benefactors, who have
endowed it with funds, and more wel-
come even than funds, type. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century, ty-
pography did not keep pace with the
advanced output of books. That pub-
lishers then were careless about the
artistic presentation of their books the
horrid condition of Shakespearean
dramatic quartos is sufficient witness.
No care was paid even to the design
of the title-page; the plays were pro-
duced on gray pap^r with blunt type
like Browning's "scrofulous French
novels."
Friends of the Oxford Press, real-
izing that more care must be given to
the artistry of publication, began as
early as 1629 to present it with im-
ported Continental types, particularly
those of Holland and Flanders. From
1666 to 1672, Dr. Fell, the Bishop of
Oxford, endowed the Press with a
set of Dutch type, which laid the
foundation of fine printing at the
Press and exerted an enormous in-
fluence in raising the standards of its
publishing competitors. Fell, usual-
ly remembered by an opprobrious
quatrain, should be more properly re-
garded and cherished as a benefactor
to printing. His punches and mat-
rices are preserved to the present
(Continued on Pajre Five)
International Club Holds
Round Table Discussion
The International Relations Club's
round table discussion of Latin Amer-
ica, held February 13 in J.he Com-
mon Room, was a highly successful
experiment.
Carmen Duany, '34, who was re-
sponsible for planning the round ta-
ble, opened the discussion with a
Brief account of the International
Relations Clubs' Regional Conference
on Pan-Americanism, which she- at-
tended in Washington last December.
The following students also gave
short reports on different aspects of
the Latin American question: Lucy
Fairbank, Margaret Simpson, Eliza-
beth Bingham, Elizabeth Bock, and
Grace Meehan.
These reports emphasized the diffi-
cult 'topography of South America
and the large Indian element in .the
population as reasons for the prob-
lems which the Latin republics are
facing today. Those countries with
the least Spanish blood are the least
progressive. Transportation is still
very primitive, although the new air-
lines are bringing outlying districts
into closer contact with the capitals,
se that trips which once required
months when madefy canoe or mule
train now take artly a few hours.
In the post-war decade, Latin
America enjoyed a brief era of un-
precedented prosperity. American
banks practically compelled the vari-
ous governments to accept loans. The
depression has, however, been par-
ticularly severe in Latin America.
Since it was impossible to keep up
payments on the public debt and the
New York banks insisted on receiving
their interest, the only way to re-
move the burden of these obligations
was revolution.
The Pan-American movement, ini-
tiated by the United States Govern-
ment, has attempted to - foster soli-
darity and good-will between Amer-
ica and the other republics of the
western hemisphere, but the Latin
countries resent American predomi-
nance, and the interventions under-
taken with a corollary of the Monroe
Doctrine as an excuse have aroused
hostility. British and German trad-
ers have been getting an increasing
proportion of Latin American trade.
Proposals are now being considered
for continentalizing the Monroe Doc-
trine and treating the other republics
as partners equally interested in its
enforcement.
As a follow-up of this discussion,
Mrs. Manning will give a talk on
Mexico next Tuesday.
Miss King Discusses
Gertrude Stein's Art
Impressionists, Cezanne, and
Cubists Show Parallels
to Her Writing
TECHNIQUE IS ORIENTAL
In 'the Common Room, Thursday
afternoon, Miss King gave an illum-
inating talk on Gertrude Stein and
French Painting, which was based on
her personal recollections of Miss
Stein and on her wide reading in the
authoress' works.
Miss King met Miss Stein first in
New York through Mabel Weeks, and
Estelle Rumboldt, the sculptor. Miss
Stein used to visit Miss King in her
"penthouse" apartment on 57th
Street, cram herself out of the win-
dow to admire the vista of the river
and the buildings, and finally settle
down to talking at length about any-
thing from art to psychology. It was
about this time that Gertrude Stein
and her brother, Leo, passed much
time abroad, where they often hap-
pened to meet Miss King. An inter-
esting story is told of Miss Stein's
falling asleep on the steps of St. John
Lateran in Siena, because the day
was hot and she was tired. From
there the scene shifts, after a lapse
of several years to Paris, where the
two had taken a studio. Mr. Stein
was selling his fine collection of Jap-
anese prints in order to buy paint-
ings by the modern French�Renojr,
Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. Miss
King did not see Miss Stein again
until just before the War, when she
enjoyed looking at new French paint-
ing and learned to understand it a
little, with the aid of an introduction
to Picasso's dealer. During the War,
Miss Stain drove an ambulance in
the south of France, and "worked like
a dog," as she, herself, expressed it.
And the war-time experiences rever-
berate in her work. The next meet-
ing was in Madrid, where Miss King
was working at the Bibliotheque Na-
tionale, and Miss Stein was working
late at night, and sleeping well into
the morning. She gave Miss King
her manuscripts of the volumes of
portraits. Earlier was the one of
Mabel Dodge, which circulated and
was imitated so widely at college;
but it was then that Miss King form-
ed that habit of continuous reading
which she considers necessary to get
a full understanding of Miss Stein's
writing. Today when Miss King is
in Paris, she always goes over to Rue
(Continued on rage Four)
Wisdom of Playing Follow-the-Leader Is
Driven Home to Bryn Mawr Stag Line
Vocational Tea
Mrs. G. Harold Thurlow
(Esther Dikeman, 1928) will
speak on Opportunities for
Women in Industrial Labora-
tories in the Common Room in
Goodhart Hall on Tuesday, Feb-
ruary 27, at quarter of five.
Tea will be served at half-past
four.
The cryptic process by which a
stag line unanimously decides to re-
nounce the pleasure of rushing nine-
tenths of the beauteous damsels gath-
ered at any dance for their express
delectation has long been a source of
wonder and admiration to dur un-
initiated eye. Football coaches turn
green with envy and throw themselves
into untimely graves at th# sight of
the team spirit and concerted action
going to waste along the edges of
every dance floor. We, too, have
nearly been driven to untimely graves
by our attempts to puzzle out just
how it happens that half an hour
after a dance begins, the stag line
to a man has selected which girls are
to be avoided at any cost. But now
that we have been part of a stag line,
we are no longer in a state of be-
wilderment: its devious plan of ac-
tion seems to us amazingly clear and
even more admirable than before.
Our recent gymnastic encounter
with Princeton's more vociferous
members got off to a most auspicious
beginning, as far as we were con-
cerned. The first two men we cut in
on danced well arid were amusingly
caustic about the Glee Club, Prince-
ton, Bryn Mawr, and men and wom-
en in general: the evening seemed
to augur well, and we returned to
the stag line feeling very pleased
with our brilliant discoveries, only
to find that every other girl in the
stag line had discovered them too and
was describing them in lyric terms
to the late arrivals. Somewhat daunt-
ed, we bared our elbows at a dan-
gerous angle and plunged anew into
the fray, cutting in at random on
every side. After several rebuffs and
a terrific kick on the shin, we found
ourselves cursing in the arms of a
future minister, who reproved us at
length for our language, refused a
cigarette on principle, and described
to us the iniquitous state of the col-
legiate soul throughout five dances
and four intermissions!
When we finally re-escaped to the
stag line, we found its few remaining
members laughing gleefully at our
obvious discomfiture and looking sad-
ly at the other members, who had
formed into two bands and were
shamelessly pursuing around the floor
our two original discoveries. The rest
of the evening augured very ill, and
in fact went from bad to worse. Oar
best friend trudged woefully past and
practically threw a man into our re-
luctant arms; he told us that he was
delighted there was no alcoholic bev-
erage to be found in the punch be-
cause, after conducting a long re-
search, he had decided that people
who drank were no happier than
(Continued on Pag* Thre�)
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